Angel Perched Upon her Phoenix
by 8-jill-8
Summary: Exploring the past of captain Jack Sparrow, giving explainations where needed, romance where wanted. What will unfold when the great captain runs into a childhood love adrift on the sea. OCxJack
1. Ch1 Perched on a Phoenix

This is my first fanfic, so R&R really well so i can improve on what is most definatly terrible.

I set it in a time before the mutany against Jack, before barbossa. So keep in mind he's quite a bit younger then he is in the movies.

I don't own anything but Jill.

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The Black Pearl, in all of it's mismanaged glory strode through the clear blue waters of the Caribbean. It's Captain, Jack Sparrow at the wheel, his first mate Gibbs at his side and his rum still clutched in his hand looked over the water ahead. They were headed for a small, barely charted isle off of Île à Vache, better known by the crew as 'Cow Island'.

On this island, there was supposed to be a chest containing a compass, which a certain fortune telling woman had promised would bring him much help and happiness, when he had presented her with the map leading to the area. As excited as he was initially, weeks of sailing off in one direction had eventually ruled out the need for constant orders, the ship was well stocked, and everything seemed to be in perfect working order. Indeed the pirates life had it's ups and downs, and right now Jacks boredom was a definite down. It seemed like hours he stood silently beside Gibbs, watching the waters ahead of them so intently they wouldn't have seen a damned Cracken arise from the water. Such monotonous idleness would do that to you.

Jack had given up on finding anything to do on deck he went for his quarters. The very moment he had his back turned the high pitched voice of a particularly short crew member shook him from his haze of a mindset. "Wha' was that?" He hadn't quite caught it the first time.

"Cap'in there's a lady in the water off the starboard!"

"A lady, eh?" He pranced his famous prance right over the rail and looked;

Indeed there was a lady, not far from them. She was not dead, or even floating. She was perched rather comfortably on what seemed to be a wooden carved phoenix figurehead on a ship. The girl was young, probably not much more then 20, he couldn't pick out what she was wearing but her hair was long enough to brush her bottom, and blonde enough to reflect the beating sunlight like a mirror. The ship she was sitting on had sunk, only the figurehead she was sitting on still poking out of the water, and the rest probably resting on a shelf. Jack's bewilderment was cut off by the same man asking if they should do anything. The young woman didn't seem to want to be rescued, but then again who wanted to be scooped out of the water by pirates?

"Don't be daft, swing over there and pick her up. We'll save you, luv!" Jack was at his wheel in a moment, giving orders and in no time the Black pearl had moved close enough to get a good look at her.

The girl was staring so intently at the horizon; it was almost chilling to the men who saw her. Her gaze was only shifted with the pearl blocked her view. It was a huge ship. Slowly but surely she tipped her head, getting a look at the men calling down to her. She did not look relieved, angry, confused, happy or even concerned that she was wearing but her underclothes and a tied cloth as a skirt.

As hands were offered to her she did not take one until Jack Sparrow himself offered his. He was the nicest looking one of the bunch, after all. To reach his hand from the surface of the water she had to stand up on the Phoenix's wing, as she aborted her curled up position, her chest was exposed. Just above her bra line on her left breast was a small tattoo of a sparrow. Jack's hand paused as he reached for her's when he saw this. He looked at her, and her first expression was a baffled one.

The captain's moustache twitched, and he quickly reached down, grabbed her under her arms and lifted her on deck. The oddness of the whole situation seemed to distract the men from the fact that the first woman they'd seen in weeks was half naked on their ship. All watched intently as the two stared each other down.

"Jill? It's Jack"

Her eyes, as rare as rest of her were two different colors, blue and green, they met his face as he said her name, and mouth opened slightly as a silent gasp escaped her burnt lips.

"Jack..."

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Rate please lovies.


	2. Ch2 Teaugy's girl

I own nothing but Jill! Please enjoy.

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The scene was silent but for the sound of the old Pearl rocking in the waves, her sails rustling in the wind and the faint whisper from the girl on board. The crew was still watching intently as Jack Sparrow and this new girl apparently named Jill stared at eachother as if they both couldn't believe the other existed.

Jill's eyes were roaming all over him; Jacks were nervously set on her eyes. No matter how much shock he was in he couldn't bring himself to look her over in her state of dress. Still, there was more silence till one of the other pirates finally spoke up with, "eh, Cap' in who's she?"

Jack turned; if looks could kill that man would be dead three times before he hit the floor. Gibbs, always the one with an explanation spoke up, he seemed just as shocked as Jack the way he strode over a put an arm around Jill's shoulder, he expression turned to a wide smile. "None other than Jillian Pharae, of course!"

That didn't help the crew any but Jack took it as his cue to pull her into a tight hug, a wide smile plastered across his drunken face that he tried to hide for everyone as he let her go. "I've missed you, Love." He said as he took of his long jacket and wrapped it around her bare shoulders. "I've not seen you since the day we parted ways when we were... How old?"

Jill was still in shock when he was talking to her. He looked so different, so tall and broad and, admittedly, handsome. He didn't look roughed up the way most men raised on the sea did, he was still youthful and cheery. As she snapped out her admiring trance she blushed. "O-oh, hum, 12 ...for me... 15 for you..."

They had met in very early childhood on the ship Jack was born, by order of Captain Teague, Jacks father; she was picked up out of a long boat where she'd seemingly been hidden from the dangers of an island. They would later learn that her mother left her there when she heard there were natives on the island, intending to pick her up when they finished resupplying the ship. Unfortunately the woman was killed and the other crew members forgot about Jill in that last longboat when they were attacked later in the day. Jill would stay on Captain Teague's ship till she was 12, her father only tried to get her back when she was older and heard of her survival. Teague wouldn't allow it. She had become precious to him. Even more so to his son, Jack.

They both knew as well as anyone that kids barely old enough to know what was going on around them weren't really in love, but the memories of telling each other this, having such innocent feelings of admiration still made them feel close after so many years of separation.

"You smell like rum."

"I've been drinking rum."

"Smells like you've been bathing in it."

"I wish."

Gibbs interjected. He too had been a member of Captain Teague's crew, when Jack had the itch to go make a name for himself as his father always expected, he left the ship with him under oath of keeping Jack out of as much trouble as a Pirate could be. "Now, don't start this off with a fight over Jacks bad drinking habits"

"I think I've made quite a good, regular habit of it" he smiled that charismatic smile that could get him out of anything, and Jill laughed. He felt as though he was drowning in fond memories of his childhood.

She was covered up now, in jack's long coat and no answers were being given so the crew had begun to lose interest, most had gone back to their work, or their games of cards.

Gibbs and Jill followed Jack back to his wheel, where they all stood around, asking each other a hundred questions about where they'd been, mostly directed at Jill who had to tell her whole story by demand of the two men.

"I left Captain Teague's ship shortly after you; you got me thinking about all I was missing while I was there, so I became part of the Phoenix's crew. Till now. That's about it, nothing really. Not as impressive as your story I'm sure. You've already managed to follow in your father's footsteps, with your own ship."

"Aye, I could tell he was pleased when I saw him last. But there are more important things at hand. You're a part of my crew, now. If you wish it" Jack was still smiling, her put his hand over her left shoulder. "If not I'll gladly take you anywhere you wish, after I finish my current 'mission'." They both smiled at his word choice.

"I'd love to stay with you as long as I'm allowed" She looked away from him as she tried her best to copy his dialect. "Love"

Jack laughed and left the wheel to Gibbs as he lead Jill down to his quarters, "I don't say I have much to fit you but I can't very well have you running around half naked with these lads." As he took back him long coat, he finally looked her over. "You were right when you suggested we both get matching Tattoo's, love. I've never forgotten you."

"That's what they were for."

He picked up some clothes for her; short pants from a young boy who'd once traveled with him and left them there as he grew out of them and one of jacks shirts, extremely large on her. Girls didn't grow very well on the sea.

The rest of the day and night was devoted to giving her lots to eat and drink so they could both share their stories. By the next morning Jill was almost back to her old self, save a bit of grief still plaguing her from the shock of losing the crew she'd been with since the age of twelve. But at least she had a bit of a bounce in her step as she insisted on working extra hard because Jack had given up his bed last night for her, spending an apparently awful night with the crew.

By mid day he had convinced her to take a break and talk some more, neither one of them could get enough of each other, truly they had missed the presence of the only one who could comfort them in the rough childhood of sailing.

"So, they call you Sparrow?"

"Thanks to your inspiration"

"How does Teaugy feel?"

Jack grinned at her playful name for his father. "He doesn't care. You've kept the name he gave you, changing that would hurt him I'm sure. He thought it was so clever, Jack and Jill"

Jill laughed but Jack merely scoffed. "Ah, yes, but he never told me why Pharae."

"That's the island he found you on"

"Oh! Why didn't he tell me?"

"Not very creative"

"And Jack and Jill is?"

"Never question his motive, my dear"

Jill smirked and moved behind him; Jacks eyes followed her as she sat down with her legs between the railing bars. He was about to warn her to be careful, but stopped remembering how she hated that as a childhood.

"Eh, Jackie" He winced at the return of an old nickname.

"Aye, love?"

"What treasure are you after, now?" She looked over her shoulder at him as he tensed.

"Some compass, nothing special I'm sure."

*****

Whoo Hoo! Another chapter done, it's mostly for setting their relationship down, so I tried to make it not to painful with details. Those will come later. Please review!


	3. Ch3 Holding the moon

Yay! A third chapter, this is keeping my attention really well. Please enjoy!

I own nothing but Jill.

*****

Time passed quickly, as usual on Jack Sparrows ship. Everyone had become accustomed to a woman presence on the ship, hardly anyone brought up any perverted fantasies, and very few still tried and grab her while she walked past. It was well known that she was under the protection of Sparrow, and since she'd sort of unintentionally kicked him out of his bed, no one wanted to mess with him lately.

She went, almost largely ignored, and embraced as a fellow man minus the crudeness usually shared between them. That was her relationship with the rest of the crew. Simply another working person, one you didn't want to bother.

With Jack however, her relationship was a little different. Each morning she worked the hardest, trying to both earn her keep and respect on the ship, not to mention repay Jack for saving her, and for embracing the curse that came with a woman on the sea.

It had been a week since she arrived on the ship now, at first Jack and Jill both got along famously, like they were kids again. Talking, playing, and fooling around. But recently, instead of her finishing what Jack decided was her share of work (which was admittedly less than everyone else, but no one complained except her) and coming to talk to Jack about whatever he wanted, she silently passed him with such a solemn expression that Jack did not dare speak to her. Desperately he wanted to ask if anything was wrong, but something kept him. He just assumed she was tired, or missed her old crew, or some such nonsense. Feelings that plagued a female was not a can of worms he wished to open. Things were very tense.

Instead of asking, he bid her stop working, let her silently walk right past him, and occasionally glanced at her when she sat right behind him, legs hanging from the side of the ship, forehead pressed against the railing as she watched the waves split as the pearl glided seamlessly through them.

After the fourth day of near complete silence between the two, Jack left his wheel and sat behind Jill, she didn't even turn has his legs slide beside hers and his chin rest on her shoulder. His voice was brisk, and his eyes shifty as she nudged her with his nose. "What's wrong with you, mate? You're quieter then that man we've kept in the brig since January, and he was dead when we put him in"

"Nothing is wrong with me, I didn't know you cared" Her voice was a hypnotized drawl, her look was as vacant and hopeless as it had been when he first found her perched on the Phoenix. This time, she wouldn't snap out of it. How long could she keep like that? How long had she been like it before? By the time they got to her on that figurehead she had been out there are least three days, according to the burns on her shoulders and neck. Perhaps it had done something to her, the sun beating down on her head like that day in and day out. Jack got up, and picked her up. Instead of her struggling like he thought she would, she was like a doll in his arms. "I shouldn't have let you work, you're not well."

"I'm fine"

"You're going to bed till I can look you over"

She didn't fight, and now she didn't respond when he spoke to her, she was either angry or in worse shape than he'd previously thought. The truth was neither, he would learn this later.

When all the crew had gone to sleep, Jack laid awake. This was impossible, he had been spoiled by the comfort of a bed in his own room for too long, and lying in a hammock in a room of snoring stinking men was finally too much. He would have to go ask Jill if sharing a bed was too much, and if she was still not responding he didn't care what she felt.

As made his was back up to the deck, he let out a yawn. His eyes squeezed shut tight and when he opened them again he was looking out over the deck of his ship. There, on her knee's sat Jill. On the metal grill that covered the floor by the mast.

He was about to open his mouth and demand what she was doing up after he`d gone to bed, tell her how dangerous it was, let alone in her state, but he couldn`t bring himself to do it. In its twisted, odd, scary way, the way she sat on her legs, her arms extended above her head as if she were trying to hold the moon. . . It was Beautiful.

The reflection of the moon on her skin, and that blond hair... ; The way she looked so comfortable, content, peaceful but somehow distraught at the same time.

He stood at the top of the stairs for hours, till his knees gave way and he knelt till he fell asleep, staring. Staring. . .

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Done! Another chapter done, are you proud of me? I kind of like this chapter, it's nice and it opens the door for a plot that will be reoccurring beyond the regular one. I hope you enjoyed this, Please review! I need as much help as possible.


	4. Ch4 I promise

**Here you guys go! Another chapter. I'm disappointed I got no reviews for chapter three.**

**I own nothing but Jill.**

******

Jack was pulled to his feet roughly by men in the morning, his crew had woken up and now needed to get to work, and they couldn't get past him with him in the door like that. "Up, Cap' in" A particularly skinny, one eyed crew member chirped. "You musta sleep walked up 'here, Up"

His eyes opened slowly, he found himself instinctively staring at the same spot Jill had been that night. He tore himself away from his crew, and looked around the deck. Not seeing her immediately he looked in his cabin, not there either. He heard a gruff call to her fromm a man "The captains looking for you ge;, get down".

As Jack went back on deck, Jill slid down a thick rope and landed a bit in front of him. He knew she knew what was bothering him by the look she gave him, one of a superior being looking at a mortal, daring him to mention what she knew he'd seen. "Anything wrong, sir"

Jack's mouth was dry... He turned and snatched a bottle of rum from a man behind him, gulping it down. "Nay, a dream has..." He cast another glance at her. The chilling expression was replaced by one he hadn't seen in days, a smile. She seemed to be back to normal... He was confused... but would say nothing.

"Are you alright?" Jill stepped forward, feeling his forehead and cheeks like a concerned mama. "Jack?"

"Yes, I'm fine... GIBBS comes with me to my cabin!" The older crew member complied and ran in behind him. Inside there was a tense conversation to be had. "I found her on deck last night, I do not think it to be a dream."

"A-aye, and? Is that what be bothrin' yah cap'in?"

"Nay, it's what she was doing. Sitting on her legs upon the brig grate, her arms over her head—"

"As if she were trying to hold the moon?" Gibbs interrupted.

"Precisely."

"The ship she was on, the phoenix, there were rumours about it but I never guessed out Jill would take part in such a deal, so I dismissed them..."

"What rumours, Gibbs? What's wrong with me gel?" Jack had the man cornered at his desk, Gibbs was not scared.

"They say the captain of that ship takes in sailors when they're young, gives them a pendant that glows like the moon as a welcome. The more the crew wears it, the more dependants they become on having it with them at all times... It is said that is how he keeps his loyalty, by threatening to take back their piece of the moon, playing on childish fears..." Gibbs was shaking was he told this, Jack was not amused to say the least.

"What does that mean?" His voice was a low growl.

"It means... if our Jill were ever given this pendant, ever allowed to grow attached to it, and lost it. No doubt its absence would slowly, but surely drive her insane. They say outcasts from that mans crew spend all night trying to capture, hold, caress the moon, trying to capture another piece for themselves..." Gibbs looked troubled. "We know she had nothing, she was dressed in nothing when we found her with nowhere to hide it, if she had it. She may have lost it in the sinking, but I doubt it. Crew from that ship would gladly drown trying to get it back... Something happened to it, you found her mourning last night, and the reason she was so distant lately must have been because the nights have been cloudy, she could not even behold the moon for a week..."

Jack nodded, not entirely understanding what he had been told. Jill was given a trinket, bonded with it; lost it and now hadn't the will to even speak to him during the day? It sounded ludicrous. But what other explanation was there? He thanked Gibbs, and bid him leave his cabin before he cut him from navel to nose for keeping that so long. Shortly after, Jack joined him on deck. His watch of Jill that day was more intense than before, even when she was dreary earlier in the week he was not so worried for her well being.

He called for her early today, unable to watch any longer. As she joined him at his wheel, he pulled her in front of him, pushed her against the wooden column his ships compass stood on. She dared him again with her eyes, but he did not back down this time. "You were on deck last night"

"You don't know what you're talking about"

"I've not seen you for years, and yet I worry for you the same as when we were children, what did you get yourself into this time?"

"You were dreaming"

"Jill, let ol' Jackie help you"

"It's gone, he took it, and it won't come back" Her eyes squeezed tight, and he saw she was trying to hold back tears. He wrapped an arm around her waist, giving her a light hug but quickly let her go; they were still on deck, after all.

"Who took it?" As he asked he finally noticed her sleepy eyes, how limp she felt when he'd held her. The gel had hardly slept, because when he let her she was...

"I, I don't know" Looking so hopeless wasn't something Jack was used to seeing in her; it made him uneasy to say the least.

"I've never broken a promise before, have I, Jill." Her eyes darted to his face, sceptical as ever when a pirate spoke such lies. "To you" he finished nervously.

"Nay..."

"I shall bring you the moon, one day. And you will no longer have to be tormented by its absence, I promise." Jill pulled him back close to her again, her forehead rested on his chest as he brought a hand to her shoulder. "Just take care of yourself until I can, no more longing and mourning. You do not mourn something when it is sure to come back"

Jill's eyes lit up, she smiled and hugged him tightly, then hearing a chuckle below let go. "And I promise not to worry you anymore. "

"And that I can at the very least share me bed?"

"O-oh, of course..."

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**I hope you guys like this one, I think I do. Please remember to review!**


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